need advice on ukranian trip

[Yorkman]

... in response to Not to be too nosy but...., posted by Oatmeal1 on Mar 21, 2004

$695 is the total price including taxes.  I think it is pretty misleading where guys post numbers that leave out taxes or other such fees, so I make it a point to give total dollars.

[romachko]

... in response to need advice on ukranian trip, posted by keithandkatya on Mar 19, 2004

Priceline.com worked for me well. I could shave $200 off the lowest fare listed on discount sites.

[Yorkman]

... in response to Re: need advice on ukranian trip, posted by romachko on Mar 21, 2004

With Priceline, you cannot specify much.  They can have you fly out anytime within a 24 hour period which makes it difficult for those who must arrange transport to airport, etc.  Also, they can put you on an unlimited number of legs of the flights with long delays between the legs.  You could potentially lose several days of your vacation on these various legs.

[romachko]

... in response to Be very wary of Priceline, posted by Yorkman on Mar 21, 2004

You can specify the day and time if you wish. Also, you can specify your preference as to how many stops you can take. Of course, you can insist on non-stop only. You have to give up, though, something for price advantage. You don't know which airline will take you or where they stop over. It's a give-and-take game and you have to decide your priority.

[Yorkman]

... in response to Re: Be very wary of Priceline, posted by romachko on Mar 22, 2004

Priceline has different options.  For the option where you name your own price and it is automatically accepted and your credit card charged, you CANNOT specify your departure time (hour) and you only get a range of possible legs.  You are left out to dry even more for the return times and legs.  For the options where you specify exactly what you want, the Priceline prices are no different than those you find on Expedia, Orbitz, etc., and don't even come close to what the consolidators will sell for.

I know a guy who went with Priceline recently.  It took him over 48 hours to get to a destination that can be reached in about 14 hours.  He lost two days of vacation, plus a big cab fare because friends couldn't take him to airport at the time that Priceline chose for him to depart.   He was stuck because the charge had instantaneously gone onto his credit card.

So, all in all, Priceline is a complete waste, unless you don't mind the risk of spending a lot of your vacation on backtracking legs or sitting in terminals between flights.  Note I did not say this always happens.  I am referring to the RISK that it might happen.

[AJ277]

... in response to need advice on ukranian trip, posted by keithandkatya on Mar 19, 2004

airfarenow.com

Atlanta based and
specializes in FSU air fares.

[Oatmeal1]

... in response to Re: need advice on ukranian trip, posted by AJ277 on Mar 20, 2004

It's the same one I used in my last post.

[tfcrew]

... in response to Airfarenow.com is the same as Russia Hou..., posted by Oatmeal1 on Mar 21, 2004

Can be transfered from the Atlanta office #
I can't find those (toll free)numbers right now.

[Jack]

... in response to There's a Miami office too.., posted by tfcrew on Mar 21, 2004

877 700 3535

[mudd]

... in response to need advice on ukranian trip, posted by keithandkatya on Mar 19, 2004

www.bestdiscountfares.com
www.airfareplanet.com

[Oatmeal1]

... in response to need advice on ukranian trip, posted by keithandkatya on Mar 19, 2004

Hey there Keith,

I can say that generally speaking, Summer months will be the highest priced flights due to more tourist travel during the summer months.

I have often observed that sometime during late May, the rates really seem to start climbing and don't really start making a fall until around October and seem to bottom out in February.  This is of coarse just a generalization but seems to hold fairly steady from year to year.

I have checked on a variety of sites and I believe that it is definitely wise to check all avenues that you can.  One time someone posted a huge list of travel sites that I copied and still use to check flight prices.  I am sure that you could probably get and equally large list from dogpile or another such search engine.  I also checked with a couple of Russian agencies in New York which gave me a good deal last year but this year they could not beat Russia House Travel.

I don't always know the variables involved so my best advice is to still check all options.  This year my wife and I are flying from Dallas to Moscow and then flying back from Kiev to Dallas from May 12 thru May 26th and the price was about $750 per person with $141 tax.

Good luck,
Jim